In Wildest Africa ^ 



of the pomp attached to the cult of animals in those days 

 of old. 



But no monument has been raised to the African 

 elephants that have been slaughtered by millions in the 

 last hundred years. Save for some of the huge tusks 

 for which they were killed, there will be scarcely a 

 trace of them in the days to come, when their Indian 

 cousins — the sacred white elephants — may perhaps still 

 be revered. 



John Manning Speke, who with his fellow-countryman 

 Grant discovered the Victoria Nyanza, found elephant 

 herds grazing quite peacefully on its banks. The animals, 

 nowadays so wild, hardly took any notice when some of 

 their number were killed or wounded : they merely passed 

 a little farther on and returned to their grazing. 



The same might be said of the Upper Nile swamps 

 in the land of the Dinkas, in English territory, where, 

 thanks to specially favourable conditions, the English have 

 been successfully preserving the elephants. Also in the 

 Knysna forests of Cape Colony some herds of elephants 

 have been preserved by strict protective laws during 

 the last eighty years or so. Experience with Indian 

 elephants has proved that when protected the sagacious 

 beasts are not so shy and wild as is generally the case 

 with those of Africa. For the latter have become, 

 especially the full-grown and experienced specimens, the 

 shyest of creatures, and therefore the most difficult to 

 study. 



Should any one differ from me as to this, I would beg 

 him to substantiate his opinion by the help of photo- 



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